Basic education principle: Principal leaders essential | Opinion

Education is a perennial topic of debate — in politics, in the news, in our everyday conversations. From the naming of Betsy DeVos as the new U.S. secretary of education, to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s recent budgetary actions, there is heated debate on how to achieve school success. While this discussion is critical at the macro level, — and we must get it right — for many of us, it boils down to how to make the right school choice for our children.

When parents ask me how to choose a good school for their child, I recommend they look first to the principal. Principal leadership determines the school’s potential to foster student success. The more difficult question to answer is the follow up: Why? Why does principal leadership exert such a strong influence on student learning and what qualities indicate a true principal leader?

Effective principals generate buy-in for a compelling mission and vision, are good communicators, and are visible in halls, classrooms, and school events. They create financial efficiencies and distribute resources fairly and equitably. They maintain school safety, model respect and tolerance, and act as a liaison between the community, school, and school district. Research evidence supports the efficacy of these and other traits, but they don’t tell the whole story of the difference between an effective principal and the principal leader.

Principal leaders awaken the potential for lifelong learning in all those they serve and enable them to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to success. This power arises from the principal who views the school as an interrelated system and who is motivated to create and develop connections within the system. The principal leader catalyzes human potential by using keen insight and skills to enhance relationships — between teachers, students, colleagues, peers, and parents — all of the relationships that comprise the school as an interconnected, networked system.

For example, in her first year at the helm of the 530-student middle school in Elmira, Ore., Susan Taylor-Greene fielded over 5,000 office disciplinary referrals. In response, she led her faculty and staff to develop the “High Five” program, a national model for positive behavioral intervention. Referrals declined by 47 percent in the first year and sustained a 68 percent reduction thereafter. This achievement alone qualified Susan as an effective principal.

But Taylor-Greene perceived a subtle dynamic still troubling the school as a system: trauma and loss. Teachers suffered intense personal and health challenges. Drug use and crime separated children from families. While implementing a positive behavioral reward system for students, Taylor-Greene also provided grief recovery training for all teachers, staff, and volunteers. I was one of those teachers. We learned to let go of our identity as a failing school in order to help skeptical peers fully embrace and sustain the dramatic changes associated with “High Five.” We learned to help our most at-risk children — and they began helping each other — release ego and prior misunderstandings in order to spark persistence and curiosity. Taylor-Greene’s ability to equip us with the knowledge, skills and support we needed, catalyzed teachers’, staff members’, students’, and parents’ ability to help each other learn and grow.

Such principal leaders are all around us, and if we look, we will find them. And when we do, we’ll know we’ve found a school with the greatest potential to foster exemplary student learning and individual and collective success. Don’t get me wrong — policies and budgets matter. But even when policies and budgets are less than ideal — real leadership can be the spark to make great things happen at your school with your kids.

Dr. Stephanie Doscher works with Florida International University’s Office of Global Learning.